Do you remember what a mess the military was back in the late 70s, early 80s? It wasn't until Reagan began to funnel money back into the military - including bonuses for enlistment and increased basic pay and allowances - did the talent level begin to reflect what one might hope to find in a professional military.
Carter DESTROYED the military, and it took Reagan his entire presidency to rebuild it. I'm not sure I'd be so keen to wax poetic about the good ol' days of the late 70s.
No where in my post did I "wax poetic." I was making a statement of fact about my pay back then and did not even comment on whether the new pay scales were for the better.
I am glad they are getting enough money to be able to at least live. My brother, an O1E, was eligible for the reduced price lunches for his children at the local schools where he served.
Back in those 70s I was pulling Alerts underground, the water chilling equipment broken in our Titan II launch complex (no money to fix it properly), the Control Center was about 110 degrees and we were carefully watching the tank pressure monitor as the Launch Duct heated up and the liquid fuel and oxidizer pressures climbed.
All the while we would relish the though of going back to base and our barracks in Wichita, where the Carter Administration had ordered all Government buildings, including barracks, to have their air conditioning turned off after 5 PM, so we had to sleep in our rooms in temps over 100 degrees at night.
I never "wax poetic" about such things and my post did not reflect that.
I remember the TM`s in comic book forms..it was
truly a dismal time for being in the Army
Jimmy Carter tried his best to ruin this country and
a true miracle came along and gave us Ronald Reagan to
bring the USA back to life